Trump’s ultimatum: BRICS must commit to US dollar or face 100% tariffs

The US President-elect Donald Trump warned the BRICS nations that he would require commitment that they would not move to create a new currency as an alternative to using the US dollar and repeated threats to levy a 100% tariff, reported Bloomberg.

“The idea that the BRICS Countries are trying to move away from the dollar while we stand by and watch is OVER,” Trump said in a post to his Truth Social network on Saturday.

“We require a commitment from these countries that they will neither create a new BRCS Currency, not back any other currency to replace the mighty US dollar or, they will face 100% tariffs, and should expect to say goodbye to selling into the wonderful US economy,” he added.

Trump on his campaign trail pledged that he would make it costly for countries to move away from the US dollar. And he’s threatened to use tariffs to ensure they complied.

Trump and his economic advisers have been discussing ways to punish allies and adversaries alike who seek to engage in bilateral trade in currencies other than the dollar. The measures include considering options such as expert controls,, currency manipulating charges and levies on trade.

Trump has long stressed that he wants the US dollar to remain the world’s reserve currency, saying in a March interview with CNBC that he “would not allow countries to go off the dollar” because it would be “a hit to our country.”

His warning against the BRICS nations suggests “how confused the incoming administration is about the global trade and capital system,” according to Michael Petts, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

“The US cannot both reduce its trade-deficit and increase the global dominance of US dollar because these impose diametrically opposed conditions,” Pettis said on his X account.

The BRICS group of emerging market nations – the acronym stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – expanded this year to include Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia and Egypt. It discussed the issue of de-dollarisation at a summit in 2023. Backlash against the dollar’s dominance gained traction in 2022 when the US led efforts to impose economic sanctions on Russia.